Month: October 2008

Update on Federal Cloud Computing

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My last several briefings, including one yesterday at the FIAC, have addressed some of the dramatic changes underway in the IT world.   That briefing is attached here: Download FIACGourleyBrief.pdf

The conference had a focus on information assurance, computer security, network security and Chief Information Assurance Officers (CISO) in the federal space.   So I not only updated my briefing with the latest tech trends but changed it to focus on lessons learned from industry on compliance monitoring and automation of remediation and related topics.

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This entry was posted in chief technology officer, Cloud, collaboration, Computer Security, CTO, Cyber Initiative, DHS, Disruptive IT, DNI, DOD, Enterprise, Facebook, FDCC, General Musings, Great CTOs, Identity Management, Network Security, R&D, Social Computing, Technology Leadership, The Future of Technology, Thin Client, Web 2.0, Web Services, Web/Tech.

OMB on CIOs: Some context for the enterprise CTO

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On 21 October, Mr. Clay Johnson of OMB signed out a memorandum for the heads of all executive departments and agencies in the US government.  Check it out here:

Download 20081023-omb-cio-memo.pdf (0.0K)

This is a great read and a positive move.  It provides an emphasis on the information technology management structure and governance framework.  This type of memo should be required reading of all government IT professionals, but it holds particular significance for the CIO and CTO. 

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This entry was posted in chief technology officer, Computer Security, CTO, Cyber Initiative, Cyber War, Disruptive IT, Enterprise, Network Security, OMB, standards, Technology Leadership.

The Future of Cyberspace Security: The Law of The Rodeo

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This is an update of my now annual assessment of the future of technology associated with good and evil in cyberspace which was first posted here.

Predictions
of the future of technology are increasingly starting to sound like
science fiction, with powerful computing grids giving incredible computational power to users and with autonomous robots becoming closer and closer to being in our daily lives vice just in computer science departments. Infotech, nanotech and biotech are fueling each other and each of those three dominate fields are generating more and more benefits that impact the other, propelling us even faster into a new world.   Depending on your point of view the increasing pace of science and technology can be good or
bad.  As for me, I'm an optimist, and I know we humans will find a way
to ensure technology serves our best interests.   

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This entry was posted in AFCEA, CCSA, CERT, chief technology officer, Cloud, collaboration, Compliance, Computer Security, CTO, CTO Principles, Cyber Initiative, Cyber War, CyberTrust, Disruptive IT, DOD, DoDIIS, Enterprise, Great CTOs, Identity Management, Information Warfare, innovation, microsoft, Moore's Law, Network Security, ODNI, Open Source, R&D, Ray Kurzweil, Robots, Social Computing, The Future of Technology, Thin Client, Triumfant, Twitter, Web 2.0, Web Services, Web/Tech, Yahoo.

Melissa Hathaway Op-Ed on Cyber Security

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Below I'm going to post, in its entirety, the text of an e-mail I received from the ODNI notification service.   The subject is an op-ed written by Melissa Hathaway, a senior leader who has been spearheading significant coordination action in the federal government (opinion: Melissa is perhaps the most effective SES-level leader in the US government today, IMHO).

I wanted to post this in totality for a couple reasons.  One is it is something all of us should read.  Although I believe most readers of this blog will find no surprises in this op-ed, Melissa has a real talent for capturing information in easy to understand ways and I think we can all borrow lessons from the way she explains things. 

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This entry was posted in AFCEA, CCSA, chief technology officer, CIA, Compliance, Computer Security, CTO, Cyber Initiative, Cyber War, CyberTrust, CyLab, DHS, Disruptive IT, DNI, DOD, Enterprise, Hathaway, Identity Management, Information Warfare, Network Security, NIST, standards, Sun, Technology Leadership, The Future of Technology, Thin Client, Triumfant, Web/Tech.

Performance Management In Organizations and Computers

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There are some interesting analogies between performance management applied to organizations and performance management applied to computers.

In both cases, performance metrics are crucial to success.  In organizations, what we reward gets measured, and what gets measured can be more efficiently and effectively done.   In our computers, what we decide is important gets measured, and those measurements can help us drive to increasingly effective and efficient performance.

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This entry was posted in CCSA, CERT, chief technology officer, Compliance, Computer Security, CTO, Cyber Initiative, Cyber War, CyberTrust, DHS, Disruptive IT, Enterprise, FDCC, Identity Management, Information Warfare, Network Security, NIST, OMB, standards, Technology Leadership, Triumfant, Web/Tech.

Securing Enterprise Data and Computer Power

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In March I posted an entry on a significant enhancement in the computing realm, the thin client.   That post focused on how thin client computing is changing the net assessment in computer security (see:  http://www.ctovision.com/2008/03/computer-securi.html  ).

I've been really pleased to watch thin client computing take off.  How widespread is adoption now?  In August Sun announced that they had nearly doubled their shipments of thin clients from the previous quarter.   That's pretty cool.  In fact, it is Kurzweilian.  

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This entry was posted in Cloud, Compliance, Computer Security, CTO, Cyber Initiative, Disruptive IT, DOD, Enterprise, Identity Management, Open Source, Ray Kurzweil, Sun, Sun Ray, The Future of Technology, Thin Client.